Volume 4, Number 1, March, 1996 - Noise News International

Asia-Pacific NewsA. Lawrence, Asia-Pacific EditorAUSTRALIAThe International Commission on theBiological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) willhold the 7th International ICBEN Congresson Noise as a Public Health Problemat the Sydney Convention Centre,Sydney, Australia on 1998 November 22­27. The Congress will follow INTER­NOISE 98, the 1998 InternationalCongress on Noise Control Engineering,which is being held in Christchurch, NewZealand on 1998 November 16-18.The ICBEN Congress will consist ofinvited and contributed papers and workshopswhich will cover nine subject areas:noise induced hearing loss, noise andcommunication, non-auditory physiologicaleffects induced by noise, influenceof noise on performance andbehavior, effects of noise on sleep, communityresponse to noise, noise and animals,combined agents, and implicationsfor regulations and standards.The president of the conference isNorman Carter of the National AcousticLaboratories in Chatswood, NSW, Australia.The supporting local committeeconsists ofR.F. Soames Job, Sydney University,Stephen Samuels, University ofNew South Wales, David Eden, Eden Dynamics,and Lex Brown, Griffith University.Persons interested in receiving thefirst announcement pamphlet or personswho attended the 6th Congress in Nice in1993 and whose address has changedmay contact Norman Carter, NationalAcoustic Laboratories, 126 GrevilleStreet, Chatswood NSW 2067, Australia.Aircraft noise is still a major politicalissue in Sydney. The introduction of thenew North-South parallel runway and theclosing of the shorter East- West intersectingrunway has ensured that aircraft noiseis regularly featured on the front pages ofthe Sydney daily newspapers. Politics areinvolved because the people who arenewly exposed to the noise are largelyso-called silvertails who would normallybe expected to vote for the coalition (conservative)parties. The ones who haverecently been relieved from the noise arethe battlers who support Labor!The federal government (at present,Labor) announced an AUD 183 millionfund to reduce the impact of aircraft noiseon residents living within the 30 - 40Australian Noise Exposure ForecastZones. (ANEF zones are similar to the USNEF zones except that there is a differentweighting for evening and nighttimemovements.)There is an existing Australian Standard,AS 2021, "Acoustics - Aircraftnoise intrusion - Building siting andconstruction" which provides a methodof determining the average maximumnoise level from relevant aircraft at differentdistances from the take-offor landingthresholds at airports. This is thencompared with the relevant indoor designsound level to determine the degree ofaircraft noise attenuation required. AnAppendix provides the expected performanceof typical local domestic roofs,walls, windows, and doors.However, in this practical case, manyof the affected residences are quite old (inAustralian terms - built about 100 yearsago). They are often small, and althoughthe original house may have been constructedwith double-brick walls withslate or tile roofs, many have had sundrylight-weight rooms added on, and manyare not in good repair.It was thus decided to commission astudy to determine how best to improveaircraft noise attenuation, and the actualperformance of some 18 houses wasmeasured before and after modificationswere made. By slightly relaxing the AS2021 indoor criteria, it was found thatmany of the houses could be significantlyupgraded without major structural modifications.For example, sealing up all externalcracks, providing a second(double) window, and laying fiber insulationand leaded vinyl sheeting in the roofspace was found to be effective in manycases.In Sydney's climate, natural ventilationin the form of open windows is commonfor much of the year, and it isnecessary to provide mechanical ventilationor airconditioning if windows anddoors are to be sealed. Various HAV systemswere also investigated as part of thestudy.Unfortunately, there was only a smallsample of residents whose houses weremodified that could be asked of theiropinion of the results.Of course, even if aircraft noise can bereduced to "acceptable" levels indoors,affected residents have no protectionwhatsoever if they wish to use their gardensand "to put a prawn on the Barbie."From Sound Insulation ofResidences Exposedto Aircraft Noise, Aircraft NoiseInsulation Project. Prepared by the AustralianOperational Support Services inconjunction with CSRIO for the Departmentof Transport, Canberra, ACT, Australia.1995 August.48NoiselNews International1996 March